


Soup

by Skullbubble



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Book VI: The Lovers (The Arcana), Fluff, Gender-Neutral Apprentice (The Arcana), Laying low, Other, Soup, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, averted bondage, blindfold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullbubble/pseuds/Skullbubble
Summary: Make him drink.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak, Julian Devorak/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 86





	Soup

Mazelinka hands me the bowl of steaming, golden soup.

“Here, would you be a dear and see that he drinks?I have a feeling he’ll take whatever you’re giving.”She disappears back into the kitchen, yanking the curtain shut.

Julian chuckles, eyeing the bowl.“She makes that soup when I can’t sleep, bless her.”Inhaling deeply, he smiles up at me from his seat on the edge of the bed.Even standing, my chin is only level with the top of his head.“But I don’t need to sleep just yet.We could stay up and, you know, get to know each other a little better.”He slips an arm around me.“What do you say?”His gaze trails down my face, fixing dreamily on my mouth. 

I have a job to do.I lift the bowl up to his lips and tilt it, offering it to him.He watches me over the rim, considering me in the warm candle light.Without fuss, he drains the bowl.

“Ah, yes.Very smooth...better than I remember.”

My eyes follow the path of his tongue as he licks the seam of his lips. He leans towards me with an airy, satisfied sigh and an inviting grin.

“Would you...like a taste?” 

He moves slowly, giving me time to stop, to shrink, to run away, but I can’t move. 

Julian plucks the bowl from my unresisting hands, setting it on the floor.His arms wind around me carefully and I sink into him.His lips are as soft as they look and so, so gentle.His mouth warm, cautious, searching.I can taste the soup.Smoky and complex, it has a flavour like bonfires and afternoon sunlight, and it’s seasoned with just the right amount of tongue.Julian pulls away after a few moments, watching me.

I stare stupidly at him for a moment.“That-“ I manage to say, “-is probably the best soup I’ve ever had.”

Julian chuckles.“Hmm, only probably?”His grin is a challenge.“Can I offer you seconds to change your mind?” He definitely can.This time, his kiss is slow and deliberate, mapping every corner my mouth like he has all the time in the world.Easing me closer, little by little, until I’m in his lap, clinging to his shirt.His hand creep down my back and I can feel the heat of his chest through my clothes.I shiver when he pulls away.

“My darling, you’re still all wet.We should get you dried off.I could help you out of- ...I mean...er...help you out  _ with _ your things.If you need help that is.”His gaze is hot as it trails down my chest.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I think they might catch fire all by themselves.”

“Oh, we can’t have that, can we?”He runs his fingers across the fastenings at my throat.“I think I have a perfect solution.”With a peck on the cheek, he helps me out of his lap, then begins to untie the knotted cord and sash wrapped around his waist.

“Er, Julian?”

Setting the cord aside, he wraps the sash around his head with a flourish and knots the makeshift blindfold behind him.

“There!”He beams triumphantly, addressing a spot a foot to my left. “Your modesty is protected from my wandering eye, and I can smoulder behind my shroud without making you blush.What do you think?”He wiggles his eyebrows and I try not to burst out laughing.

What do I think? _‘I want to undress you and I’ll probably think filthy thoughts but I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable while I do it.’_

It’s so ingenuous, so guileless. 

“Er, darling, are you still there?”He looks around blindly. 

“Darling?” 

He jumps when I take his hand, and shivers at the unexpected contact when I touch his face.The words come out hoarse when he speaks.“Use me however you want, I will be an absolute gentleman.I promise to restrain myself...unless-” he plays with my fingers, voice dropping to a murmur, “-unless you want to restrain me yourself...”

He offers me the cord from his sash, biting his lip and making a soft little noise which sends goosebumps right to my toes. 

I imagine him blindfolded, wrists lashed, panting.His shirt falling open, inviting me to explore, offering himself up like a sacrifice. 

But I like hugs and the feel of his hands.

“Julian, I’m not going to tie you up.” 

He looks almost disappointed. 

“Are you  sure , my dear?You don’t want me trussed up here, waiting for you, completely at your mercy?”

Julian twirls the cord suggestively, but misjudges the distance and clocks himself in the nose with the tassel.His head narrowly misses the wall as he throws himself backwards onto the bed and wails.

“Alas! My love, I am hit-! Ow.” One flailing arm clunks into a bedpost. “Oh my, this might be the end. If only I could have seen you one last time! To be struck down at such a moment, woe is me!” He writhes in the sheets and I laugh like I haven’t laughed in ages, dodging an errant knee to get nearer.

“Don’t worry, my precious hero, I will save you!”

I climb over him for a quick peck on the lips, then haul him upright again. 

“Oof.”Julian knocks the air out of me as he throws himself into my arms, hugging me and pretending to cry.

“My darling, my soggy angel, I was afraid I was done for, that I would never see you again!And I still might not - I seem to have gone blind.”Lip quivering in mock despair, he paws at his eyes.

“My darling-“ I try to sound serious but it’s hard when I keep giggling.“My love, let me look.” Cupping his face in my hands, I lean down and softly press my lips to one eyelid, then the other, smiling against the blindfold.“Who would do such a wicked thing to one so innocent?” I run my thumb over his cheek.

Julian puts on a brave face.“You know, my dear, I think...I think I might make it after all.” 

Histrionics forgotten, his arms wind around me, guiding me down over him as he sinks back onto the mattress.The kiss is deep, so deep I could drown.Julian’s tongue explores my mouth gently and his hands trail along my spine. 

My fingers wander through his hair, cool and coarse, across the delicate line of his jaw and down the sides of his throat, thumbs pressing where I feel his pulse jump. He groans into my mouth and nibbles my lip before arching back to expose more.The tendons stand out in his neck and he is trembling under my hands.“You don’t have to be gentle with me, my dear.”His voice is hoarse, his grin encouraging.

“But I want to be gentle with you.”

Julian stills, relaxes and I feel like he’s watching me, then he leans forward and kisses me softly, almost chastely, hands at my waist. 

He hums thoughtfully, playing with the fabric under his fingers. “My darling, much as I would love to stay like this until hell freezes over, we really do need to do something about those wet clothes.”

“There’s this man who keeps distracting me. Can you help?”I lick his nose and he laughs.

“Well you are positively enchanting, my dear, and I am utterly helpless.”

“Maybe I  _ should  _ tie you up then,” a shudder runs through him and he makes that soft, hopeful noise again, “but this is Mazelinka’s house and I could still do with your help.”

“Then I am your obedient servant.”Julian sits up, lifting me with him and setting me on my feet again.Away from his warmth, I definitely feel cold.

We make quick work of the clothes Nadia gave me.Julian is true to his word, practiced hands working efficiently over fastenings, even blindfolded, standing to lift layers over my head with the careful professionalism of the doctor he is until everything is in a damp heap on the floor.

I was chilly in my clothes but now my skin is clammy and I feel very exposed.

There is a rustle behind me.

“Arms up.”

I really want to try to cover myself, to shield my body from the evening air but I dutifully raise my arms.Julian slips something over one hand, then the other, pulling it down and wrapping it around me.His shirt.

The sleeves fall down over my hands, the chest swamps me and it won’t close round my hips, leaving far too much of me exposed, but it’s warm and dry, fabric soft from wear and repeated washings.I roll the sleeves up as Julian feels his way blindly across the room to sit back down on the bed.

“Now, let’s get a good look at you.”

He pretends to look me up and down. There’re a flutter in my stomach.Even with the blindfold still in place, it’s like he can see every inch of me.

“Yes, everything seems to be in order.”

I blush as he pulls me against his chest again, his body hiding everything which the gap in the shirt can’t.Grinning up at me, he pushes the makeshift blindfold away. 

“Now,” the low purr of his voice goes down, right through my belly to settle between my thighs, “where were we?”

“ILYA!”

Julian’s arms tighten around me with a jerk as Mazelinka appears from behind the curtain. He goes completely rigid, pressing his face into my chest as if to hide. 

“ILYA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

He mumbles something into my sternum.I’m sure I can feel him blushing through the fabric of the shirt.

I jump to his rescue.“I...well...I, er, fell in the canal earlier and...Doctor Devorak-“ I gesture to indicate that the half naked man in my arms is, in fact, a medical professional. “Doctor Devorak thought I shouldn’t sleep in my wet things so we...we, er...we took them off.”My voice trails off under Mazelinka’s withering stare. 

“I’m sure he did.”She bustles past us, collecting our discarded clothes from the floor.“Doctor Devorak indeed.Hrmph.Well he’s not wrong.We don’t want you catching a chill.”She scoops up the empty bowl. “I see you got him to drink his soup.”

I nod, trying to look like someone who didn’t also lick that soup off Julian’s tongue.

Mazelinka winks and gives me a broad grin.

“Well I trust you’ll be sharing the bed, unless you’d rather sleep in the hiding hole and I’ll cosy in with him?”

Julian’s ears have turned red.

“Er... I’ll sleep...with him.”

Mazelinka beams as Julian’s body finds more places to blush.

“Well I’ll hang these up in front of the fire so they’re dry in the morning.”She shuffles past us with my damp things. 

“ILYA DEVORAK, I DID NOT MAKE THAT SOUP FOR NOTHING.GO TO BED YOU NAUGHTY BOY.”

Julian mumbles again and Mazelinka yanks the curtain shut.

For what feels like an hour she potters loudly around the kitchen - clacking bowls, bumping furniture across the floor and humming noisily, letting us know that we’re not off the hook yet.Neither of us dares to move.My hands have crept into Julian’s hair, absently scratching his head like a dog while we wait for Mazelinka to stop.Finally there is a creak, a sound of muffled grumbling and the bang of a door closing. The kitchen is quiet.

I listen for another few moments but there is no further sound.Julian is breathing softly into my chest, humming dreamily and rubbing little circles into my back under the shirt.Everything is so blissfully peaceful.I could stand here, stroking his hair like this, until I grow roots.

Much too soon, Julian lifts his head and it feels like something precious has been stolen.I suddenly want to give him a taste of his own medicine.At my mercy indeed.

Sliding my hands back through his hair, I lean down, brushing my lips against his ear.“Someone told me you like it a little rough, Julian.”A shudder runs through him and I hear him swallow as I pull back slowly, breath tickling across his jaw.His eye is half closed and the tiny, pleading noise he makes when he bites his lip should be illegal.

I give him a sweet little smile, then drag my nails firmly back across his scalp.Julian makes a startled bark, between a groan and a laugh.It is an absurd sound.The kind of noise a chicken might make.He snaps his mouth shut, blushing hard.He won’t look at me but his eye flutters shut and he presses his face into my chest when I move my hands back through his hair. 

I scratch again.This time, he gives a ragged, purring chuckle and I will stop at nothing to hear that sound again and again.

I carry on working across his scalp until my fingers ache, all the way from the base of his skull to his crown, and Julian tips his head back so I can get right up to the hairline.

His eyes are still shut and he has this soft, contented and profoundly stupid smile on his face.It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The satisfied noises he makes go right through me in a way that makes my heart hurt.

Eventually my fingers have no strength left in them so I have to settle for running them through his hair instead, teasing it into place so he looks less like a thistle.

Julian still has that unconscious, tender expression like his brain has switched off when he opens his eyes and gazes up at me.For a long time he doesn’t speak, just enjoying the feel of my fingers in his hair, smoothing it down, taking care of him.

“Hmmm,” he hums dreamily and nuzzles against me, “I think I might be the happiest man in the world right now.”

My heart falls sideways. 

It might just be fatigue, the adrenaline from my dip in the canal or something in Mazelinka’s soup, but right now I think I would do anything for this ridiculous man.This man who saved my life earlier in the evening, knowing nothing except that I had been sent to hunt him down.This man I have known for all of about five hours, who makes my heart feel light, who is looking at me like I’m the answer to all of his questions.Daft, gentle and achingly beautiful. 

Julian just smiles adoringly, like he has no idea what he’s doing to me.

I kiss him dazedly letting him pull me into his lap again.Into his warmth, into his smell, the rumble of his laughter and the taste of his joy.Hands on my skin, fingers in his hair as we sink back into the sheets.

I want to spill all my feelings into him but my mouth is too busy for words so I use my hands, my lips, my tongue and the soft sounds in my throat to let him know how precious and wonderful he is.

I don’t care that the shirt is in disarray.I am pressed against his bare skin all the way from my tongue to my thighs and I can feel his heart pounding.He can have all of me, right here, right now, gentleman or not.I want him so badly it hurts but he’s just rubbing my back and kissing me, deep and slow.

Julian’s whole long body is wrapped around my small one and he feels like home, like this is the way everything should be.I don’t know if I’ve ever been so blissfully happy.

I reach for the candle on the bedside table.With a flick of my fingers it’s out.

As I begin to drift off, Julian murmurs into the silence.For the first time, he sounds uncertain.

“I hope I’m not coming on too strong...oh, I’d love to make something real with you.If we had more time.”

I want to offer some reassurance but I’m too comfy to move, so I graze my teeth across the warm skin under my lips, peppering it with kisses.Julian makes a desperate little noise and curls up tighter around me like I’ll disappear if he doesn’t hold on, nuzzling into my hair.“Don’t mind me. Just rambling...I must really be exhausted.”He presses a kiss to the top of my head.“Goodnight, darling.”

I whisper a sleepy goodnight into his chest and fall asleep nestled in his warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll be in my bunk.
> 
> ___________
> 
> [Some of the lines at the beginning and at the end are taken directly from the game for context and setup.]


End file.
